LETTERS

Dear Editor:

This is in response to the letter published earlier written by Gene Moorhead, executive director of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, concerning the proposed landfill.

I would like to begin by saying that I agree wholeheartedly with his comment that no formal presentation or proposal has been made to Cherokee County Council concerning Waste Management's 3Cycle McKowns Mountain project and that we are still in a dissemination-ofinformation phase (that is a big motivator in me writing this letter).

I also agree with him urging county council, as well as ALL Cherokee County citizens to get the facts before forming an opinion.

However, I am of the opinion that members of county council do not need us telling them how to run their county. Remember this is the same council that had the insight to pass the ordinance preventing businesses, such as this, from just walking into the county without permission!

Also, I think the people who make up the populace of Cherokee County are intelligent enough to form an educated opinion once they receive the facts. However, once they visit the Willis Plaza Office, and get the facts (?) from Waste Management, as Gene urged, they also need to visit Web sites such as www.stopwmx.org and www.clout2008.com and get the rest of the facts!

Does he think that a company in business to make a profit is going to tell people the "less desirable facts" also when trying to get acceptance into the county. I am sure that you will agree that to make an INFORMED and EDUCATED opinion, you must view ALL THE FACTS. And while we are on that subject, do you think that once prices of recycled goods drop, this company will still pay salaries for trash to be sorted if it is not profitable to do so or will they merely dump the waste into the landfill?

And as to his comment about the responsible and professional manner in which they are trying to get the information to the public, well, I'll leave that statement alone for now.

In his comments regarding recycling, I applaud his efforts in urging everyone to recycle because, like he stated, the more we recycle, the less need there will be for additional landfills. Recycling, in fact, I have found is not difficult to do and may actually surprise you when you discover just how much can be recycled and how much space you save in the landfill. Just recently our county has purchased, through a grant, five additional recycling bins to establish convenience dropoffs for recyclables. If I am not mistaken they are located at Goucher White Plains Fire Department, Blacksburg Fire Department, Antioch Fire Department, Cherokee Creek Volunteer Fire Department and Draytonville, McKowns Mountain, Wilkinsville Volunteer Fire Department (not McKowns Mountain Fire Department, Gene), however, if the time to gather true facts had been taken, he would have found that the bins were placed there prior to last week, because I myself have been using them for three weeks and guess what, I am not the only one using them!

Just imagine, once the county has had sufficient time to advertise their placement, several more may start recycling! The purchase and expansion of the recycling convenience centers do, in fact, make it easier to recycle and I would like to urge everyone to do so. I also agree with his statement that our throwaway society is poisoning our planet but what he failed to mention is that leaky landfill liners (refer to the Federal Registry, May 26, 1981, pages 28314 - 28328, Environmental Protection Agency argues forcefully that all landfill liners will eventually leak) poison the groundwater.

Just last Thursday, I was reading a report on the subject in which it was stated, and I quote, "all landfill liners leak and once groundwater is contaminated, it is contaminated FOREVER" (Refer to "Rachel's Hazardous Waste News #316).

With the drought that has plagued much of South Carolina for the past while, do you honestly think is it truly SMART to destroy (yes I said destroy, remember the report's comments from earlier, it's a fact) any of that precious commodity with a leaky landfill liner for the sake of adding very few jobs to the economy?

And along those same lines, just how many of the 42 new jobs to be created by this company will be filled by Cherokee county residents. After all that is a selling point for Waste Management, isn't it, the jobs it will bring to the county?

But I have to ask, how many of the employees from the closing Palmetto Landfill will be transferred to Cherokee County? After all, these employees are already trained. I, like Gene, support economic growth, recycling and environmental stewardship. I also support proper land use but I don't think a dump/landfill is a truly wise use of Cherokee County land when it has so very many negative effects on this same land and the people occupying it (I failed to mention the higher-than-normal cancer rate associated with landfills).

In closing, I have parting remarks I would like to make to Gene Moorhead, the residents of the county and members of council. Gene did you take your own advice and learn all the facts before you sat down and wrote your letter or did you just take the word of a select group of people? Also if you did take your own advice, did you learn that a dump is still dump and a landfill is still a landfill no matter how you pretty it up?

Perhaps if time permits, you may need to research the dictionary on this. To the people who live within the boundaries of Cherokee County, this is YOUR county, learn all the facts before making your decision, because you will have to live with that decision every day for the rest of your lives. And to members of council I would like to REQUEST that ALL facts be considered to make an informed decision (as I am sure you will) because that decision will affect not just the present residents of the county, but your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all future generations which will call Cherokee County their home also.

Again, I urge each and every resident of the county to learn all the facts of this proposed landfill/dump, and let your county councilmen know your feelings on the issue. We do not have to wait until it is formally presented to county council to decide where we stand on this issue!

Again visit www.clout2008.com and www.stopwmx.org, as well as other Web sites, and learn the "not so pleasant" facts too. Beverly Carver Gaffney, S.C.

Says the piles of trash will be taller than the Peachoid

Dear Editor:

I am writing in regard to the possible placement of a landfill in Cherokee County.

I have spoken with this 3Cycle company (Waste Management Inc.) on multiple occasions. Mr. (Bob) Peeler is quick to talk about the "recycle" portion of this landfill but not the dirty, smelly trash dump portion.

According to an article in The Gaffney Ledger on Oct. 2, the trash dump site will be 200 feet tall. I would like to point out that the Peachoid is only 150 feet tall. These piles of trash will be taller than the Peachoid. Did I mention that (even with the 1,550 acres that Waste Management will purchase) they plan to put the 200-feet-tall trash piles only a half-mile away from someone's home?

This does not sound like a "good neighbor" to me. I haven't seen any 200- feet-tall trees in McKowns Mountain to hide all that trash.

What about the environment? Mr. Peeler is quick to point out that the "protective liners" do not leak. He isn't so quick to talk about liner "overage" — overage being where the contents rise to the top of the liner. Regardless of how the waste comes out, the end results on ground and wildlife contamination is the same.

Many residents in the McKowns Mountain Community are on well water. Public water does not reach most of the residents so many homes receive water from their wells because no other option is available. What about the safety of their water supply when there is an "overage?" I don't believe that this company could make Mother Nature proud, as they would like us to believe.

I encourage everyone to research this Waste Management and to realize all the fines that have been levied against them. Cherokee County is the smallest county in South Carolina

If this landfill is approved, it will be the largest in South Carolina. The landfill will be larger than Blacksburg!

I have to ask my fellow Cherokee County residents to have pride in our city, our county and our communities. Stand up for yourselves, your neighbors and your county.

Call each of the seven elected county council members and insist that they stand up and vote NO to this proposal. Thank you. Cindy M. Richards, RN Gaffney, S.C. Letters may be sent to: Letters to the Editor The Gaffney Ledger PO Box 670 Gaffney, SC 29341 or e-mailed to: editor@gaffneyledger.com.

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